Egypt’s government approves deal to hand two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia

CAIRO — Egypt's government has approved a deal to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia and sent it to parliament for ratification, despite a legal dispute over the plan, according to state television.

The deal, announced in April, caused public uproar and rare protests by Egyptians who said the uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir belonged to their country.

The controversy has become a source of tension with Saudi Arabia, which has provided billions of dollars of aid to Egypt but has recently halted fuel shipments amid deteriorating relations.

In June, the Higher Administrative Court annulled the agreement, saying Egyptian sovereignty over the islands could not be given up. The Egyptian government lodged an appeal.

Earlier this month, an Egyptian state advisory body recommended the court to uphold its original decision in a report seen by Reuters.

The court is due to issue its final verdict on January 16 and is not obliged to follow the advisory body's report.

The government's latest move shows "the collapse of the state of law and the constitution" in Egypt, said Khaled Ali, a lawyer who filed the June lawsuit to annul the deal.

"The decision that parliament is going to issue is void and the people should defend their land with all legitimate means against this tyrant regime that doesn't respect either law or judiciary," Ali said.

Tiran and Sanafir are situated in the narrow entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba leading to Jordan and Israel.

Saudi and Egyptian officials say they belong to Saudi Arabia and were only under Egyptian control because Riyadh asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.

Lawyers who opposed the handover said Cairo's sovereignty over the islands dated to a 1906 treaty, before Saudi Arabia was founded.